All students moderating in Physics complete a two-semester Senior Project made up of original research. The project may include theoretical, experimental, and computational components.
Featured Senior Projects
A Party of Particles: Constructing a Cyclotron to Accelerate Protons
By Luke Christopher Ingraham ’24
The first particle accelerators were developed by Ernest Lawrence at University of California, Berkeley nearly one hundred years ago. Lawrence’s creation of the cyclotron has had an everlasting impact on physics and his experiments can be recreated today.
A Party of Particles: Constructing a Cyclotron to Accelerate Protons
The first particle accelerators were developed by Ernest Lawrence at University of California, Berkeley nearly one hundred years ago. Lawrence’s creation of the cyclotron has had an everlasting impact on physics and his experiments can be recreated today. A cyclotron is a charged particle accelerator that uses a magnetic field to confine particles to a spiral flight path in a vacuum chamber and an applied electrical field accelerates these particles to high energies. In this senior thesis, I embarked on a journey to build a fully functional cyclotron that is capable of accelerating protons to beyond 60keV. The complexity of the project is extensive because each component in the project needs to be manufactured. The components that need to be made are the electric field generator, magnetic field generator, vacuum chamber/pump, ionization source, and particle detector. I was able to construct the cyclotron from scratch and get to the point of testing. This cyclotron will be used for future senior projects and experimental demonstrations in numerous physics classes.
Geometry and Semiclassics of Tetrahedral Grain of Space
By Santanu B. Antu ’23
The quantum theory of gravity has eluded physicists for many decades. The apparent contradiction between the physics describing the microscopic and the macroscopic regimes has given rise to some beautiful theories and mathematics. In this paper, we discuss some aspects of one of those theories, namely loop quantum gravity (LQG).
Geometry and Semiclassics of Tetrahedral Grain of Space
The quantum theory of gravity has eluded physicists for many decades. The apparent contradiction between the physics describing the microscopic and the macroscopic regimes has given rise to some beautiful theories and mathematics. In this paper, we discuss some aspects of one of those theories, namely loop quantum gravity (LQG). Specifically, we discuss the discreteness of spacetime, a feature that distinguishes LQG from some of the other contending theories. After a general discussion in the introduction, we discuss the dynamics and quantization of the simplices (tetrahedra) that make up the space. The discrete geometry of these tetrahedral grains of space has some beautiful physical and mathematical properties. We use semiclassical physics and some classical results in algebraic geometry and topology to investigate many of these properties.